Fabrication of microporous chitosan/silk fibroin as a scaffold material using electron beam

Abstract

The aim of this study is to develop microporous material from silk fibroin (SF) and chitosan (CS) using electron beam-induced crosslinking technique. Poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (PEGDMA) was used as radiation crosslinking agent. Comparative studies were done using two different polymeric components, i.e., CS and CS/SF. An effect of irradiation dose on crosslinking density and swelling degree were investigated. The chemical structure and packing conformation of the obtained microporous materials were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The morphology and microstructure were assessed using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The PEGDMA crosslinked in a CS/SF system (CS-PEGDMA-SF) possessed greater inter-connected porous network than that in a single CS component (CS-PEGDMA). The gel fraction was ranging from 90% to 100% when the irradiation doses of 10–80 kGy were carried out. The swelling degree increased by means of gel fraction and irradiation dose. The pore size CS-PEGDMA-SF and CS-PEGDMA varied in the range of 0.80–1.35 μm and 8.07–16.32 μm, respectively depending on the irradiation doses. The fabricated scaffolds showed the porosity ranging from 21% to 94%. Taken together, CS-PEGDMA-SF microporous material from electron-beam irradiation would serve as a good promising scaffold for tissue engineering. Open image in new window